Caddie master is matchmaker at State Farm Classic

Wednesday

Ann Boer is not a golfer. As the caddie master for the LPGA State Farm Classic, however, she sometimes plays matchmaker in a team aspect of an otherwise individual sport.

Ann Boer is not a golfer. As the caddie master for the LPGA State Farm Classic, however, she sometimes plays matchmaker in a team aspect of an otherwise individual sport.

Boer, a Springfield resident, said pairing up tour players who need caddies for a day or the entire week is only one part of her job. She spends most of her time registering caddies, handing out the bibs they wear and keeping track — and laundering — all the towels they use during the tournament.

But over her 22 years as caddie master, Boer has learned that different golfers have different preferences when it comes to the person carrying their clubs.

“Pairing up players and caddies is the most interesting part,” said Boer, who will be back in her volunteer role with the Classic next week at Panther Creek Country Club.

“I try to match what the player asks for, based on what I know about the guys. A player might say, ’I want someone who’ll be a lot of fun,’ or, ‘I want somebody who doesn’t talk. I don’t like to talk.’ I get those kinds of requests.

“Sometimes they want somebody who can really do the yardage (on the golf course), and sometimes they don’t want that. And sometimes they’ll say, ‘Do you have any kids?’ Or, ‘Do you have somebody with a lot of experience?’”

Sometimes, a player — like Kate Golden in 2001 — simply will defer to Boer.

“She came to me the year she won,” Boer said. “There were two guys standing out there, and we were sitting in the trailer and we looked at them out the window.

“I said, ‘Well, there’s the two of them. What do you think?’ Kate said, ‘Which one do you think is cuter?’ I said, ‘I think he is,’ and Kate said, ‘I do, too.’ And that’s the one she took.”

That caddie was Jim VonLehmden of Chatham, who became one of the most publicized local caddies in Classic history after Golden fired a final-round 63 to overtake Annika Sorenstam to win the title.

Hal Edwards of Springfield is the elder statesman of local caddies for the Classic, having started in 1978.

“We have several guys, like Hal, who’ve done it for years and years,” Boer said. “They have seniority and they get paired first. I go to them first simply because they know what they’re doing, and the players like them.”

Boer said most of next week’s 144 players won’t need her assistance, noting that need for local caddies has gone down over the years. Twenty-seven local caddies found work at The Rail in 1990, but just six were needed for the 2006 Classic (not including three others for practice rounds).

Boer, a marketing coordinator at Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. in Springfield, said her initial contact with the Classic was as a spectator back in the 1980s. She wanted to get involved as a volunteer — ideally, some pre-tournament job that would allow her to watch the action once the Classic began.

But she said yes when Sandra Dehner-Wheeler, the Classic’s long-time executive director, asked her to serve as caddie master. During the Classic’s years at The Rail, Boer’s headquarters was a small trailer near the parking lot.

Boer said the accommodations — for herself, her assistants and the caddies — have improved since the move to Panther Creek in 2007. They’re situated in the air-conditioned snack-bar area near the country club’s swimming pool.

Boer said the new locale is closer to the action, near the practice green and the No. 1 tee. She said she’s been able to watch more in recent years thanks to capable assistants. Boer’s current No. 1 aide is Mary Sneed of Springfield.

“I didn’t think I’d be doing this for so long,” Boer admitted. “But I just enjoy it. I like the caddies, and it’s a job where you have to organize really well. It’s perfect for me.”

Dave Kane can be reached at (217) 788-1544 or dave.kane@sj-r.com.

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